Brazil Gives Poor Countries Free Ride to Rio Climate Conference

June 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Brazilian government is giving
poor nations from Africa and the Caribbean a free air lift to
boost attendance at the United Nations conference on sustainable
development that it is hosting in Rio de Janeiro.

Aircraft provided by the Brazilian air force and Sao Jose
dos Campos-based jet manufacturer Embraer SA will tomorrow start
to pick up heads of state and delegations from 10 countries such
as Malawi and Liberia, as well as Barbados and Granada,
according to a statement posted on the defense ministry site.

As Europe’s debt crisis rages, with the focus turning to
parliamentary elections today in Greece, many world leaders are
skipping the Rio+20 environmental conference that’s being billed
as the biggest gathering in the UN’s history, drawing more than
50,000 delegates.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, U.S.
President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UK
Prime Minister David Cameron are among those who are skipping
the Rio summit even after Brazil changed the conference dates to
coincide with the end of Group of 20 leaders’ summit all are
attending this week in Mexico.

President Dilma Rousseff’s administration had expected
representatives from 120 nations to attend the climate summit,
which is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the first earth
summit in Rio in 1992. Until last week 102 countries had
confirmed they would partake, according to the defense ministry
statement.

Last night, only 37 percent of the final document leaders
are expecting to sign had been agreed to, Pargati Pascale, the
main spokeswoman for the conference, said yesterday. Brazil and
the UN are pressing delegates to wrap up their talks by tomorrow
night in time to have a final document for heads of state to
endorse when they arrive on June 20.